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By By Andrew StricklerNEWSDAY • Monday November 9, 2009 5:25 AM

Wrong-way driver linked to pot use -

MELVILLE, N.Y. -- The sister-in-law of Diane Schuler, the alleged drunken driver who died along with seven others in a fiery wrong-way crash on New York's Taconic State Parkway, told investigators that Schuler was a heavy marijuana user and drinker, the attorney for the family of two of those killed said yesterday.

Irving Anolik, who represents the family of Michael Bastardi and his son Guy, said state investigation documents contradict the frequent assertions of Diane Schuler's husband, Daniel, that she rarely if ever drank or smoked pot.

In an interview with state police, Joan Schuler, the wife of Daniel's brother, told investigators Diane "smoked pot all the time, after the kids went to sleep, after they went to school," Anolik said. "She smoked it before she went to bed."

On July 26, after leaving an upstate campground, Diane Schuler, 36, drove a minivan the wrong way for nearly 2 miles on the Taconic State Parkway before smashing head-on into a sport-utility vehicle, killing herself, four of the five children in her vehicle and the three men in the SUV.

Toxicology tests showed she had a blood-alcohol concentration of .19 percent -- more than twice the limit of .08 at which a person is considered driving drunk -- and high levels of marijuana in her system at the time.

Daniel Schuler has said he had never seen his wife drunk and that she only occasionally smoked pot.

Thomas Ruskin, an investigator hired by the Schulers, said he had not seen the reports but the account of Joan Schuler's statements about Diane's substance use was "totally contrary" to his investigation. Ruskin also said the crash was "a very traumatic time" for the Schuler family and that "things being attributed to Joan are not the way Joan would describe Diane now and are not the truth." He has said his company found no history of substance abuse.

Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore ruled out a grand jury presentation and closed the crash probe on Aug. 18, saying only that Diane could have been charged.